July 4th

We had a great holiday weekend spent with our college friends Scott and Rachel Hochstetler. They drove out from Indiana and stayed with us for 5 days before heading up to Denver. Leah and Sasha were good buddies by the end of their visit and Jack and Aaron were so cute at their parallel play on the floor. Both of their kids are 6 months older than each of ours. Scott and Phil enjoyed going to see La Boheme at the Santa Fe Opera one night and we all enjoyed just hanging out at our house (the hot tub and zip line were particularly popular activities) and at various parks and restaurants around town. The only downer was the stomach bug that made its rounds through our whole family that weekend and then on to the Hochstetlers after they arrived in Denver. Sorry, guys!

Big Day for Sasha Tomorrow

We have been on vacation in Michigan and adjusting to being back home so I will try to catch up with my summer blogging over the next week or so. Tomorrow Sasha starts her first day of preschool and I feel a little sick to my stomach tonight and tearful as I pack her first lunch in a lunch box and gather up all the items for her cubby that she will need. How did we get here already?

She is eager to go and I know she will thrive there, but I will miss her so much! I realize that this is just one of the many "letting go" moments I will have to face over her lifetime.

Jack will miss having Sasha around as much as I will. No one can make him giggle like she can.

A rare solemn picture of Sasha. I love you, cutie, and good luck tomorrow!

Jack update

Jack is now 10 months old although all of these pictures were more around the 9 month mark. The biggest change is that he is constantly on the go now. He started crawling on his 9 month birthday, albeit very awkwardly. He still tends to drag his curled up left leg under him and push forward with his right foot. The end result is that it's very easy for him to go from crawling to sitting up on the left leg whenever he wants to stop and check something out. He gave us quite a scare a couple of days after he started crawling. We were rushing around getting the house picked up before guests arrived and both of us thought the other was watching Jack. At that point he was still pretty slow, or so we thought. Next thing we know we hear a distant scream and my heart sank immediately knowing what had happened. He had managed to scoot all the way to the other end of the house and fall down the length of our basement stairs. He was just sitting at the bottom bawling with no obvious injuries and was comforted within seconds. Whew! Phil put a gate up the next day.

Days later he began pulling up on everything and now is cruising along furniture with ease. Other new skills in the last few weeks are clapping, waving hi and bye, and lots of pointing.

Phil and I are amazed by how well he entertains himself for long periods of time (second child characteristic probably) and also how he will sit in his high chair for a long stretch at home or in a restaurant and eat anything and everything--very different than Sasha. We are almost off of baby food altogether. He is still waking up one time at night for a feeding but otherwise sleeps 7pm-6:30 am and takes 2 good naps. At his 9 week check-up he weighed a scant 15 lb. 9 oz but is average for height.

Memorial Day in Sedona

For a little getaway we took a road trip to Sedona, Arizona for the long holiday weekend. What a gorgeous place that rightfully earns it's nickname of "Most Beautiful Place in the America". We did some challenging and ultimately very rewarding hikes with breathtaking views--perhaps a little more than we should have with a 3 year old and a baby--but they were both troopers. Sasha loved scrambling up all the red rock. Jack chilled in the Bjorn. On one of the hikes we foolishly left our drinks in the hike backpack that we had to abandon halfway up because the crevices became too narrow and awkward for it. It was super hot and we were all very, very thirsty by the time we came back to it. The picture at left shows Sasha thoroughly enjoying her first IBC Root Beer at the end of this hike. She kept talking about "beer" meaning "root beer" the rest of the trip. "Just one more sip of beer before bed." and "When we get back I'm going to drink all of the beer." It sounded so wrong!
We spent the mornings kiddie poolside at the hotel going between the pool and the hot tub. Jack loved the water and was a great traveler for the 7 hour trip thankfully.

Gymnastics

Sasha has been taking gymnastics off and on for the past 2 years so I thought it was time to formally document it with a few pictures. Until this last summer session either Phil or I would always be with her to guide her through the routines, but this last class she was deemed old/mature enough to do it on her own and we would wait in the upstairs viewing area.


These classes have been wonderful for teaching her to follow directions from "coach", how to wait in line for her turn, and they have pushed her to try physically challenging moves that she wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.






Sasha giving us the double thumbs up.










The obstacle courses resonate well with her rough and tumble daredevil attitude. She especially loves the days when they have the rope and hanging rings out. I think we'll continue with these classes next year although I sometimes wonder what the end point is for all this....cheerleading?! HELP!

May

Picture #1: I don't know when exactly it happened but I marvel at how grown up Sasha seems to me now. She is almost 3 1/2 and so much more independent than she was even 6 months ago. She loves to make up competetive games with complicated rules, "play track" with me up and down our long hallway, and every evening "play rough" with Dad down in the basement. A girly girl she is definitely not. Her classic line these days is "Tell me a super super scary story" She especially likes tales about wild animals chasing people and bizarre/gory emergency room stories! Dolls. No. Princess stuff. No. Listening to terrifying dinosaur sounds on the computer over and over. YES! She still loves to listen to books and can now read a lot of words herself. Her current favorite book is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and loves listening to "Peter and the Wolf" in the car.

Picture #2: Phil's parents came out for several days. We went on a beautiful hike along a creek in the Jemez mountains. Sasha promptly fell into the freezing cold creek within the first 5 minutes and refused to wear her wet shoes so had to do the rest of the hike barefooted (did I mention above that she is quite stubborn?) Sadly this area is being completely desroyed by a huge fire even as I type this as you may have heard today on the news.

Picture #3: We rode the "World's Longest Cable Car" up the Sandia mountains in Albuquerque one day with Phil's parents and had a lovely lunch at the crest.

Picture #4: Jack loves his fresh fruits this summer, especially watermellon. What a mess there is to clean up after every meal these days! It is so nice to go out to eat once in awhile just to not have to clean up after everyone. We bought a Roomba on sale the other week. As dorky as it is, it is functional for this time in our lives and Jack is mesmerized by it.

May pics

Picture #1: Jack in all his mealtime glory. The boy loves to eat-- escpecially orange and yellow vegetables. He is just now showing some signs of teeth starting to push through but his toothless gums have not stopped him from devouring bread, pizza crusts, pretzels, blueberries, and grapes just to name a few. And despite his appetite, he is a wiry little thing--not a role of fat on him!
Picture #2: Mothers Day kiss from Sasha. We went out for a delicious over the top champagne brunch at this lovely lodge a couple miles from our house with my mom, dad, and Megan. Then Megan, my mom, and I went on a hike while the kids were napping. A perfect day!
Picture #3: Tomorrow we sadly hand the keys of the Infiniti over to an 18-year-old kid who can use the 2-door speedster more effectively than we can with 2 little kids. Though we both cringed at the thought of driving and owning a big vehicle at one time, we are enjoying the space in our Mazda CX9 that we got this spring. I make Phil drive it though.
Picture #4: Jack and Sasha taking their first bath together. Jack thought he was in heaven and Sasha was the proud big sister happy to show him how it's done.

Easter

Easter was a big hit this year, both the secular and the religious aspects of it. I don't know how many times Sasha requested that we read the Easter story from her children's bible story book and now every night her bedtime prayer starts out "Dear God, Thank you that Jesus rose from the dead." I wonder what her real understanding is in her little 3-year-old head! We had lots of fun dying Easter eggs and hiding them. The second day of hiding we had to make a new rule though that eggs could not be hidden in cabinets or drawers after an egg went MIA for a day.

We went down to Albuquerque Easter weekend and Megan and I threw a 60th birthday party for my mom at Megan's house-- a Greek inspired meal complete with lamb kabobs, spinach pie, tabbouleh, and a Tres Leches cake just to shake things up a bit. Megan and I happened to be dressed exactly alike. It's in the genes....

Sasha and Jack sitting pretty in their Easter outfits before the church service at Albuquerque Mennonite.

We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner after church at my mom and dad's house with Megan.

April

One day Sasha on her own prepared Jack's meal of rice cereal and carrots. She was so careful not to spill any while she poured and stirred and then fed him the entire bowl by herself. I love her look of concentration (above). Jack loves to be in the work-out room looking at himself in the mirrors, watching me do the elliptical, and especially grabbing onto the weights. I am behind in this blog, obviously, but just a current update: Jack is so close to crawling. He rocks forward onto his hands, holds the position for awhile and eventually becomes stranded on his tummy. In some ways I can't wait for him to get mobile because I think he'll be so much happier. As it is now he gets pretty frustrated when left on his own on the floor right now. He is happiest when he can hold onto our fingers and practice walking, a back-breaking endeavor for the adults in the house. He can pull up on a few things too which prompted us to lower his crib mattress a couple of weeks ago. Lastly this is Sasha's last week at Gabriela's house (the woman above). She has been going there with some other little kids for the past 2 years for a couple days a week. It has been a very nurturing second home for her and we will miss Gabriela so much, but Sasha is definitely ready for preschool which she will start in the fall. I will NOT miss the 20 minute drive to take her and pick her up at Gabriela's especially now that I have to load up Jack each time.
We are off to Sedona, AZ for a weekend of hiking over Memorial Day.

Hawaii cont.

Just a few more pics...The sunset dinner Phil and I had alone one night was one of the meals I will remember the rest of my life--couldn't have been more perfect.